Fulfilling A Dream

Former Langley Researchers Part Of Discovery Crew

July 13, 2005|By DAVE SCHLECK dschleck@dailypress.com | 247-7430

HAMPTON — Their peers at NASA Langley recall the two men's dedication to space shuttle research and their ambitions to be astronauts.

As astronaut Charles Camarda prepares for his first space shuttle mission, he hasn't forgotten the 20-plus years he spent at NASA Langley Research Center. He's very aware of the declining budget and job cuts that threaten the center.

It just won't work to slash government research and expect industry to take up the slack, Camarda said in a recent interview at Johnson Space Center in Texas.

"If we don't continue to encourage that research and development, if we begin to decimate those research centers, that research will not be done in industry," Camarda said.

Two Discovery astronauts have roots at NASA Langley -- 53-year-old Camarda and 49-year-old Stephen Robinson. Both speak fondly of their work at Langley, and researchers at the local center remember them well.

Camarda, who started space shuttle research at Langley in 1974, is among many NASA supporters who lament the fact that Europe is beating the United States in commercial aeronautics and spacecraft development.

"This is a critical issue and not just for the agency," he said. "It's a national problem. It's a crisis."

Camarda received a doctorate in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech while at Langley. Two decades after starting heat-related research at the local center, Camarda became head of Langley's Thermal Structures Branch. He reported to NASA Johnson two years later for astronaut training.

He said Langley researchers like Steve Scotti are improving the safety of space travel by specializing in methods to keep heat from destroying vehicles. Parts of the shuttle reach temperatures of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit when the orbiter re-enters Earth's atmosphere.

Last year, Scotti pulled together about 25 researchers from around the country to brainstorm for ideas.

"When you have the right people with the right technical backgrounds, it doesn't take an army of them," Camarda said. "Put smart people in the room who can come up and innovate."

Scotti said he looks forward to seeing his former boss take flight.

"We have a personal interest in this flight," he said.

Barry Meredith, manager of space operations and space technology, worked with Camarda at Langley.

"He's a colorful guy, not afraid to speak his mind," Meredith said.

John Lin, Langley senior research engineer, will see his former boss, Stephen Robinson, aboard Discovery. Lin remembers Robinson working late hours at Langley as head of the Experimental Flow Physics Branch between 1990 and 1993.

"When everybody had left for the day, he was still working in his office," Lin said. Although Camarda has a wife and four children, Lin points out that Robinson is still unmarried. He thinks it has something to do with how hard Robinson works.

"I think being an astronaut was his lifelong dream," Lin said. "He's a highly motivated individual."

Robinson started his NASA career at Ames Research Center in California in 1975 before coming to Langley.

"This gave me a perspective, a NASA-wide perspective, which is really important because it takes a NASA-wide effort to do the kind of things we're doing," Robinson said during a recent interview at Johnson.

NASA selected Robinson as a pilot in 1994, and he has flown aboard Discovery twice already -- in 1997 and in 1998.

Robinson and Lin wrote a paper on high-lift aeronautics performance in 1992, which won a prestigious award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Robinson's background as a supervisor and a pilot serves him well in the shuttle program, Lin said.

"He demanded excellence from everyone," he said. "He was also easy to get along with. We went with him all the time to get Chinese food for lunch."

Researcher Chung-shen Yao worked with Robinson at Langley. Yao remembers Robinson inviting him on a trip on his small plane. They flew from Langley to Williamsburg.

"He just liked to fly, to be up there," Yao said. When Yao spoke about wanting to visit the Sahara desert, Robinson said he wondered what it would look like from space.

Robinson was not accepted the first time he applied for astronaut training.

"He told me since he was a kid he wanted to become an astronaut," Yao said. "He had to try quite a few times. But he finally got it."